Chasing Fate
by abbee
Summary: (MALE SYOC OPEN) Princess Emily was never suppose to be queen. When her brother abdicated his throne, Emily's whole life changed. A once peaceful Illéa is starting to become restless. A selection is brewing on the horizon. Princess Emily feels like she is chasing something she can't have. Hopefully her country won't suffer because of it.
1. O n e

The day was like any other at the palace. Maids were rushing about, cooks filled the kitchen with more food than one royal family could eat, and all was at peace. The country of Illea had flourished under Emily's parents' reign. The rebels were all but a whisper, long forgotten. The country was finally at peace. While the castes remained, the people flourished. The royal family was more well loved than ever before.

Princess Emily set down the magazine she was reading while her head maid, Elizabeth, started on her hair for tonight's report. Emily glanced down at the magazine and saw pictures of her during her most recent humanitarian visit to Honduragua plastered on the cover. Next to the picture was a caption for a story about how Prince Nickolas was going to be announcing his selection soon.

Emily scanned the article about her older brother. Nickolas was any girl's dream. He was your typical tall, dark, and handsome Prince. He always said and did the right thing. He was always the picture perfect son. It was about time he settled down.

Soon enough, Emily was floating down the hallways to the room where the Report was held. As she stepped in, she realized that the room was more abuzz than usual. As she sauntered to her seat next to Nickolas, she couldn't help but see that he looked worried.

"Are you seriously worried about announcing your selection," Emily teased as she lowered herself into her seat. "It's not that bad. Plus you're such a lady's man already. The people love you! You'll have plenty of girls competing for you!"

She expected to see Nickolas relax. What she didn't expect was his worry lines to deepen as he looked at her.

"Hopefully the people will still love me after this," he sighed as someone started the countdown. Before Emily could question him any further, the lights intensified and her father started the report.

"And now, ladies and gentlemen," the King said, "My son, Nickolas Schreave has a very important announcement." Emily's brown eyes watched as her father stepped aside and Nickolas took his place. She studied the King's face. He looked too worried and too defeated to look anywhere else but at his son.

"Good evening, everyone. I know that most of you are expecting my announcement for my selection to be happening tonight. However, I must inform you that that is not the case. It is with a heavy heart that I inform you all that I am abdicating the throne."

A hush fell over everyone in the room. Emily felt all color drain from her face. She wasn't expecting this. She sure as hell was not ready to be queen.

As the cameras shut off Emily bolted up from her seat. "Nickolas what the _hell_ was that?!" She didn't mean to scream but honestly, she felt numb at this point. Nothing seemed real anymore.

Nickolas just turned to his younger sister who was charging up at him like she could beat him up. She looked truly terrifying and beautiful at the same time. He couldn't help but laugh as she stopped in front of him.

"Don't you see, Em," he started. "I'm gay." He said it in such a way that it made the brunette stop. Nickolas continued before Emily could say anything else.

"I could never be happy living with someone who I don't truly love. And even if I did marry someone I really loved there would be no way to produce a true heir."

Emily turned to her parents. "And you two knew about this," she asked them. "You didn't tell me?"

Her parents shrugged their shoulders. "It wasn't our secret to tell," Queen Adelaide said. King James was the next to speak, seeming to read his daughters mind. "No we didn't force him to abdicate. That choice was his alone. We gave him options and this is the one he chose." And with that Emily watched her parents saunter off linked arm in arm.

Emily turned to find Nickolas smiling at her and offering her his arm. "Look on the bright side, Em" he started. "The people love you more than they love me. You can do no wrong." She knew that the words were suppose to calm her. However, she couldn't help but feel like a storm was starting to brew and she would get caught in the middle of it.

Rules for SYOC:

1\. Please PM submissions

2\. Don't make your characters perfect. Everyone has flaws and it makes them more realistic.

3\. Be diverse!

4\. Please give me details to work with!

I am looking for about 15-20 males! You can send in as many as you would like!

 **SYOC Application**

 **Full name:**

 **Nicknames (Optional):**

 **Age (18-24):**

 **Province:**

 **Caste:**

 **Occupation:**

 **Height/Weight/Build:**

 **Eyes:**

 **Hair (Color/length/type/ preferred style):**

 **Skin tone:**

 **Overall Appearance:**

 **Face claim/Celebrity Look-alike:**

 **Selection Style (Clothes, shoes, hair):**

 **Style before the Selection (same as above):**

 **Personality (TONS of detail please):**

 **Strengths:**

 **Weaknesses:**

 **Likes/Hobbies/Passions:**

 **Dislikes:**

 **Fears:**

 **Languages Spoken:**

 **Family (name, age, appearance, personality, realtionship with character):**

 **Pets:**

 **Best friends/friends:**

 **History/background:**

 **First date ideas:**

 **How they treat the other selected men:**

 **How they treat the maids:**

 **Thoughts on Royal Family**

 **Thoughts/feelings toward Princess Emily:**

 **Thoughts/Feelings toward Prince Nickolas:**

 **Thoughts/Feelings toward Queen Adelaide:**

 **Thoughts/Feelings toward King James:**

 **Reason for entering:**

 **Romantic history:**

 **Anything Else:**

 **Happy creating everyone! I can't wait to see what you al come up with!**


	2. t w o

"This is ridiculous," Emily said to no one in particular as she glanced at the newspaper in front of her. On the cover was Nickolas galavanting around Europe with his newest boyfriend, Kristopher the next in line for the throne of the German Federation. Nickolas looked happy and that's all Emily could really ask for. She set the newspaper down as her maids came in with her breakfast and coffee. A year had passed since Nickolas had abdicated his throne. Emily was thrown into training to become the queen pretty rapidly while her brother quickly dove into his role of the world's hottest playboy. Despite having to catch up with more than a decades worth of training, Emily was excelling. Illéa was still thriving. Nothing had gone up in flames. Yet. It honestly felt like she was destined for this role. She looked out of her office window and into the gardens. Spring was finally arriving at the palace and the flowers were getting ready to bloom. She opened the balcony door and stepped out to drink her coffee in the brisk morning air.

The grand clock on the wall chimed ten times. Emily knew she was running late to the first meeting of the day. She quickly made her way down the hall to find herself in front of all of her father's cabinet. Usually being late would result in a quick scolding from the King. Today was different. The conversation quickly was hushed as soon as all of the cabinet's eyes fell on the young princess. "Good morning, sweetheart," King James called as Emily nervously shut the door. Something was off. Emily knew it.

"Um, good morning," she said as she made her way to the chair across from her father. "Is there something that I missed," she hesitantly asked as she took a seat.

The king gave her a small smile. "Actually we were just discussing you," he said as he stood up from his chair. "You do remember what next week is, right," he asked as he paced the front of the expansive table.

Emily's mind drew a blank. Her father must have sensed it as he continued on.

"Your twentieth birthday is next Friday," King James said matter-of-factly. Emily waited for her father to continue.

"We believe," her father said motioning to the cabinet members in front of him, "that it is time for your Selection."

Emily's brown eyes scanned the cabinet members and her father. For the first time in a while she was stunned to silence.

"Don't I get a say in this," she asked after what seemed like an enternity later, pushing herself up from her seat. She usually never raised her voice at her father but she could not help it at this point.

"Actually, you don't," King James said with a sigh. "Your mother and I have been talking about this day for a while. Ever since Nickolas gave up his throne, you have become disconnected with the people."

Emily opened her mouth to retort back but the King went on. "You have faded from the public eye. You need to be connected with your people."

Emily fell back into her chair. She knew she was defeated. "When," she asked quietly.

"Tonight. You announce it on the Report tonight."

She was quickly dismissed from the rest of the day's meetings to help her mother get everything ready. As she made her down the hallway, someone grabbed her arm before she had the chance to make it to the stairs. She felt the callused hands grip her a little too tightly and pull her back a little too forcefully. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up. As her delicate frame was spun around she cursed under her breath. Andrew Williams was the son of her father's best friend. The two had practically spent their childhood together before Andrew was shipped off to some prestigious boarding school in Switzerland. Nickolas had always joked with Emily that their parents planned on arranging their marriage.

When Andrew finally came back to Illéa he accompanied his father to all of the cabinet meetings. It was obvious that he was being groomed to take over his father's spot once it was time for him to step down. While Emily respected his father, Andrew was a whole other story. While his father was kind and reserved, Andrew was quick and brash. He was always one to lean towards the more violent side of things. Quite frankly, he terrified Emily.

"What is it this time," Emily asked him, brown eyes narrowing at him. Andrew's grip tightened around Emily's arm.

"A selection," Andrew sneered. "Don't you think that's a little beneath you?" He tried to pull the princess closer to him but ripped her arm out of his grasp.

"Don't man handle me and don't tell me what to do," Emily snapped at him before turning on her heels. She bounded up the steps to the third floor knowing that the braiding Andrew couldn't follow her up to assault her any more. She slipped through the doors to her family's private floor and finally felt her body relax. Andrew was a ticking time bomb with an unknown detonation time. Emily just hoped she wouldn't be around when he erupted.

Emily turned and made her way to her room. Like her office, her room also overlooked the gardens. Her maids had her balcony doors open and a fresh breeze greeted her when she shut the door. She didn't have long to enjoy the calm before her maids bursted through the door to get her ready for the Report.

An few hours later, the princess was scrubbed, buffed, and polished to perfection. After being dressed in a simply robe, she was led over to the vanity in the corner of her bathroom. Normally Emily would insist on doing her makeup herself since it was her form of therapy, but she would indulge herself a little every Friday and let her head maid Rose take over. While Rose expertly moved around her vanity, Amber's hands were in Emily's long brown hair, contemplating which hairstyle would suit her for the big announcement. Emily could hear Lilly rummaging around her massive closet trying to find the perfect dress.

"Oh aren't you excited, Em," Rose asked as she added blush.

"I _think_ I am," Emily said trying to not move in fear of being stabbed with a makeup brush or burned with the curling wand that Amber held. "It's just a lot to process. A year ago, I wasn't even thinking about this. But the idea seems fun-although it is a little terrifying." Emily didn't know what to expect. What if she selected a bunch of men that didn't get along with her. She had many fears about the whole process but all of those seemed to fly out the window as her mother floated into the room.

"Well don't you just look absolutely breathtaking," Queen Adelaide sighed as she pulled a chair up next to her daughter. "I am so excited for you to start your journey."

"What was father's selection like," Emily asked her mom as Amber finished up the relaxed waves in her hair.

"It was absolutely marvelous but also terrifying at the same time," the Queen answered. "There were many other girls to compete with but it all worked out in the end."

Emily sighed. "I just hope mine doesn't turn out to be a huge disaster," she said.

The queen threw back her head and laughed, her blonde hair dancing in the setting sun. "Em, before you were in line for the throne you would drop everything at the drop of a hat to fly halfway across the world and lead humanitarian visits. If you can face famine, earthquakes, and other natural disasters, you can do this." The queen placed a hand on her daughter's shoulder. "You have faced head-on some of the worst situations anyone can face and have tackled it with poise and grace. Handling a few boys will be so much easier."

Emily smiled at her mother's comforting words. Lilly finally exited the closet with two dresses in hand.

"This is the one," her mother said while plucking a red gown from Lucy's hands. "This one will be perfect."

Before she knew it, Emily was forced into the red gown that had a slit up one side to show off her legs. The dress plunged a little lower than what she would have liked but her mother still deemed her outfit tasteful.

After having her shoes placed on her feet, Emily finally turned around to see her reflection in the mirror. She was speechless for a second. She looked like she was practically glowing.

"You look stunning," her mother said as she placed her tiara onto Emily's head.

With that, Emily took her mother's arm and walked down with her to the Report.

 **Thank you everyone who has submitted a character so far! There are still plenty spots open so please send one in! I have gotten such wonderful submissions so far! Hopefully this chapter gives a little bit more info on the Royal family! Please leave any reviews you have! I would love to hear everything you guys think! xoxox**


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